Marriage Material
by WonderPickle
Summary: Happy's still a little rattled after the final tally on the Bicker Clicker. Set after 3x19. Quintis one-shot.


**There were so many things that made last night's episode great. The fact that Quintis is working on their issues together, Toby's relationship with his new friend, Sly, Sassy Ralph, that Waige scene, the Nicks not glossing over Cabe's broken heart, the Quintis, and of course "My Spicy Asian Noodle" (I DIED)!**

 **Had to make Quintis fic for the ep. Cannot wait for next week's!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _131_.

She really bothered him _that_ much?

Happy fiddled with the thin pages of the car magazine resting in her lap. The familiar sound of the shower hummed in her ears, pulling her further away from the words and pictures that awaited scrutiny. The articles typically peaking her interest weren't providing the distraction she hoped for.

The mechanic pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

Did that large tally really mean squat? They'd still be married forever in spite of it?

Happy thought she and Toby were perfectly suited for each other. And although she didn't like how he tended to blindly neglect her flaws, she'd at least thought there weren't so many times she ruffled his feathers. Could he stand her constantly provoking the hell out of him?

The number 131 continued to nag at her.

He'd proven to her time and time again they would be everlasting. Even Dr. Rizzuto gave them a stamp of approval. But the amount of clicks still churned her stomach.

She wanted to become husband and wife. Never in her life had she actually wanted something this badly.

So the fact that she'd irritated him 131 times in a single day didn't resonate well with her.

Happy always figured she wouldn't get a happy ending. She'd live out her days alone. Even during the first few years of Scorpion, where she had finally found friends, it was a future she learned to accept. But when she grew the capability to begin shedding her robotic shell, things changed. Humanity started to crack the longstanding shield around her heart. And because of that, Toby had seeked out an opening. Eventually he did manage to find his way in. Happy was admittedly grateful for it. His persistence, annoying as it may have been, allowed the gears that kept her functioning to take on a new form as human emotions.

She _thought_ she was developing well.

131 clicks, though...didn't that say otherwise?

The shower in the other room suddenly ceased, and it got Happy to blink out of her thoughts. With the several seconds she had, she managed to regain her composure, clearing any unusual markers Toby could've picked up on from her face.

He stepped out of the bathroom, water from his hair dripping down his bare, muscular chest. A white towel wrapped around his waist and stretched down to his knees.

 _Damn_.

"Shower's all yours, lovebug," he remarked, running his fingers through his wet locks as he glanced at her.

"I'll get in later." She, though, aimed her gaze back at the magazine.

"Mine would've been so much more enjoyable if I had my beautiful princess with me," Toby noted, grinning.

Happy shrugged. After several seconds, she could sense him expecting a verbal response, but when she didn't deliver, he started to turn on his heel.

Her natural instinct was to repress the words on her tongue, to let him go change and not comment on the thoughts eating at her. But she knew better.

As he stepped into the bedroom, she called, "Toby, wait."

He instantly shifted back to her. "Yes, turtledove?"

"We need to talk."

Toby paced closer, slightly shaking his head and raising his eyelids. "Well, that's never good. What's up?"

She cleared her throat. "I was just...thinking about today..." He stared inquisitively, causing her to exhale under her breath. "What if...Dr. Rizzuto was wrong about us? What if we do fight too much?"

Toby's eyebrows scrunched. "What?"

Happy raised her shoulders in a second small shrug. "You had more than 130 tallies on that damn clicker. Don't get me wrong, it's good you didn't keep me on a pedestal all day, but to see how much I actually provoke you when that's _not_ how you're treating me..."

The doc pursed his lips for a moment, slowly ingesting her words. Her heart couldn't help but clench as she uncomfortably watched his brain tick.

Toby, still soaked from his shower, began to pad towards her. "Happy…"

"I know I'm not what you'd call 'marriage material'. But I thought I'd made progress."

"You _did_ make progress." He gave her an amalgam of a smile and a frown, dropping down to his knees in front of where she was sitting, despite being dressed in only a towel. "You _don't_ provoke me. Sometimes we exacerbate each other, but that's our natural psyches. It's _normal_ for couples to bicker, kitten. It just happens. It's nothing to fret about."

"I just...I don't want our marriage to fail."

Toby outstretched his hands to grip hers, passing a pulse of reassurement between them by squeezing. He took a pause, letting her glimpse at the adoration swirling in his brown pupils. She tried to relieve some of the unease compressing her chest, but it didn't work.

Immediately picking up on this, the doc leaned his face closer into hers. He adopted the soft tone he only ever used with her, one that could always relieve some of her angst.

"We love each other, right?"

She nodded.

"Then we'll be okay, Hap. Our marriage is not going to fail just because we're not always on the same page."

"You're sure about that?"

He presented a toothless, consoling grin. "I love who you are, Happy. You're feisty and sarcastic but that's what makes you _you_. I love that person more than anything in the world. And I know you love me, too. Our flaws-they're just part of who we are. Who we love. They'll always be there. But we won't let them get in the way of our relationship. We never have."

Happy blinked uncertainty back at him.

Toby gently pressed their foreheads together. "Happy Quinn, I will love you until the end of time. That's never going to change." His lip quirked upwards. "Sometimes we bicker. It wouldn't be a healthy relationship if we didn't. But at the end of the day, we do still love each other, and we're still going to get married. That's what's important. Not some stupid number on the clicker Dr. Fake Degree gave us. No matter what, you'll always be the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. Okay?"

The engineer chewed the inside of her lip for a moment, focusing her line of sight into his. Her intellectual mind absorbed his words like a sponge before her mouth released a response. But she couldn't keep her voice from cracking. "Okay."

Toby immediately smiled. Removing his head, he softly brushed his lips against her skin to plant a kiss in its place.

Happy leaned into his touch.

She knew he was right. She loved him. He loved her. Their bickering was part of their relationship. What made it theirs.

 _That_ was the only thing she should've been thinking about. Not concerned with doubts about it.

"I know I don't say it enough," Happy commented, slowly running her thumb along his palm, "but I really love you, doc."

Toby chuckled. "I love you." He proceeded to pull away, but reached out his fingers afterward, stroking her hair with his hand. "You wanna go take that shower now? Fair warning, there might only be cold water."

Happy smirked. "Only if you join me."

His eyes widened. "Really?"

"Really." She raised her eyebrow. "But if there really isn't any warm water, I'm going to make you stand in there by yourself and freeze."


End file.
